The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) was passed by the Parliament of India in December 2019. This act amends the Citizenship Act of 1955, which defines who is considered an Indian citizen and the procedures for acquiring Indian citizenship.
Credit: Reuters
New Delhi: The Union government Wednesday started granting citizenship under the CAA in West Bengal, Haryana and Uttarakhand, the Home Ministry said.
The applicants in the three states were granted citizenship on Wednesday by the respective State Empowered Committee, the ministry said in a statement.
The first set of citizenship certificates after the notification of the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, granted by the Empowered Committee, Delhi, were handed over to the applicants in New Delhi by the Union Home Secretary on May 15.
The CAA was enacted in December 2019 for granting Indian nationality to persecuted Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
After the enactment, the CAA got the president's assent but the rules under which the Indian citizenship was granted were issued on March 11 after over a delay of four years.